Sunday, February 24, 2013

Library....semi-open?

I’m sorry its been so long!! It’s been quite the busy week
which meant not a whole lot of down time and hardly any sleep.

I should have caught you up when I was on cloud nine on
Tuesday afternoon! At Hlengisa on
Tuesday, I was finally able to get into the library during one of my
breaks. I talked to the teacher who was
in there and she explained that the library was only used for her class. She teaches 1st and 2nd
grade “letters” and they didn’t have enough classroom space for her, which
meant the library became her classroom two days a week. The other days the library wasn’t used at
all. Even on these two days, though, the
books were never used. The library is
what they call a “container” which is basically like portable classrooms in the
states. All the walls are full of
bookshelves. In the center, there are
brand new wooden tables and chairs stacked up that have never been used. I spent each of my breaks Tuesday looking
through the books. With each new book I picked
up, I could hear the cover cracking like any new hardcover would. My jaw just continued to drop further and
further as I was in awe of these books.

My English classes also all went very well this day (between
my escapes to the library). I started
reading a short story with my 9th graders that was actually provided
by the school!! Though most of them were
able to read the words, we had to stop quite a bit so that I could define many
of the words. In my 8th grade
classes, I was told to go over periods, exclamation points, and question
marks. After about 6 examples, I realized
the kids already knew all of the material….so I brought out my story
dice!! I found 9 dice in KHouse with
pictures on each side. I gave one die to
each student, put them in groups of 6, and had each group write a story including
every picture that was rolled. Not only
were they ecstatic to have a new activity that they’ve never seen, but they
were so excited just for the dice. Some
of the students didn’t even know how to roll a die….there was spinning,
rolling, throwing onto tables… anyway they could get a picture!!

After classes, I was able to bring my 6th grade
reading club into the library!!! I have never seen children so excited to go in
a building. I got to the container and
it was swarming with students. I walked
up to open the door and as soon as I even got the door a crack open, the kids
charged. They ran and pushed to get
inside as if there were just mounds and mounds of ice cream and candy on the
other side. They quickly took down
chairs and sat in groups waiting for my direction. I gave each group a book about a South
African Historical Leader. Each book was
about a different person. These books
were easier to read because they had heard most of the words, and they were
actually learning about major figures in their own history—black and
white. As I walked around, the children
were silently listening to one another as they passed the books in circles,
taking turns reading. After about 20
minutes, hands shot up asking me if I could ask them questions about the
books!! (BOY WAS I IN TROUBLE! I hadn’t read them all!!) I quickly scanned each book and asked pretty
specific questions—each of which they knew the answers!! Needless to say, I was just about the
happiest girl in South Africa.

Pearnel, Laree, Rob, and Jamie then showed up after their
service site to pick me up. I thought
Pearnel was going to cry because he was so happy these books were being
used. We stopped reading early so the
children were able to meet us and ask questions. Of course, in no time, Jamie then had them
all singing Shosholoza with us. It was
one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I have never felt so connected with these
children or another culture before this point.
The video is posted on facebook if you’re interested in seeing the
singing!!

On Thursday, the four girls in my house volunteering for Amy
Biehl all went to “McDonald’s Golf Day” which is Amy Biehl Foundation’s biggest
fundraiser. About 150 men came to Rondebosch
Golf Course and we were in charge of selling raffle tickets all day. It was very interesting to see the
fundraising part of an organization after being on the working end of it for
the past couple weeks. The work we do is
very sugar coated for these huge companies and men. Although none of the information was a lie,
there was definitely a little coating to the real work done—especially when we
were interviewed for TV.

Funny thing about the fundraiser…all four of us showed up in
sundresses, ready for the country club feel of the golf club. When we got there, everyone else was in jeans
and we were told to put our t-shirts on!!
So there we were..the only 4 Americans, in dresses, with t-shirts over
our dresses. Good look, huh?! I definitely thought so! Everyone was still very willing to give us
money though, we collected more than I ever thought we could selling just
raffle tickets!!

This weekend consisted of Robben Island and Kloofing. Robben Island was amazing to see, but a very
rushed tour. We were able to see where
the men slept and specifically Nelson Mandella’s cell. It was interesting that there are actually
people living on the island right now. All
the children who live there take a ferry to school each day and all the adults
work on the island. It is their job to
keep up with all the maintenance and the one shop on the island. It was an interesting tour—pictures with more
information to come on facebook!

Kloofing was also a blast!!
Basically, we were picked up at 7am and brought to the middle of
mountains after about an hour long drive.
We strapped on harnesses, hiked to the middle of nowhere, and roped
up! In no time, I was walking down the middle
of a waterfall with nothing but a rope holding me above a huge pool of
water. We repelled down two waterfalls
and at the end of the second one, we were allowed to cliff jump into the
pool. The water was freezing, but we had
a gorgeous (and hot) day so it was more than refreshing!

Once again, thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. I cannot explain how much communication with
home has helped me here. I hope to get a
new blog up on Tuesday with more about what I intend to do for Hlengisa
School. Please check back for that one
because I may need just a little help from home!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The First Tear Shed

Aside from the tearful goodbye at the airport, South Africa
has been nothing but growing and laughing.
In the past couple days, KHouse has basically been on cloud nine with
our emotions: Valentine’s Day, meeting Judy, hiking Table Mountain, Mzoli’s,
our first family dinner, and KIM. Though
I already explained Valentine’s Day, I should probably fill you in on the rest.

Judith Mayotte is the founder of the Marquette South Africa
Service Learning Program. She just
happened to be visiting Cape Town this semester so we were so incredibly
blessed to meet this wonderful woman.
She is quite possibly the most amazing woman I will ever meet in my life
(sorry mom, you’re a VERY close second.
I promise). Though I cannot even
begin to describe the things she has done, I can try to tell a little about
what she told. She is extremely humble,
to the point where losing her leg in southern Sudan during the war was just a
minor point in her stories. Through
attending a Catholic high school and ultimately converting to Catholicism, she
became a nun. After ten years of this
life, she decided during Vatican II that it wouldn’t be right for her after the
changes were implemented. She left the
convent, but not the faith. She attended
Marquette University for her PHD and found the love of her life. They married and three years later he died
from cancer. It was then that she found
her passion in helping refugees. She
traveled to every war zone during these years, lived with the refugees, and
ultimately was forced to retire this lifestyle due to the loss of her leg in
the Sudan war. While trying to airlift
food into these refugees, a 200-pound bag of grain dropping at about 120mph
fell on her leg. She came back to
Seattle where she was teaching and asked to be on a board with Desmond
Tutu. In the midst of this, Marquette
had also asked her to be “a chair of some sort within the University.” (She can’t even remember the titles she
held!!) When Marquette asked her to make
a service learning abroad program, she was sure to make it in Cape Town because
this is the place she knew the most people who would help her. She had such a deep love for South Africa
because during the apartheid, instead of choosing war, this country chose
reconciliation. Judy could have been
stuck in another war zone, but because of the choice for reconciliation she
wasn’t. She truly has a deep love for
every South African because of it. She
has nothing but kind words to say about these amazing people.

Judy began the program with 3 days of classes at UWC and 2
days of service at various sites. She
and a few students exclusively from Marquette lived in the same house (KHouse)
we live in now. She chose UWC instead of
UCT because of UWC’s involvement in the apartheid. UWC was made during the apartheid era for
blacks and colored students. Though it
has changed since the apartheid ended, it still is very much local black and
colored South African college students—most of the international students
attend the University of Cape Town. We
will also be able to meet Desmond Tutu as a house and talk with him due to all
the work she has done with him. Though
he is on a ‘semester at sea’ boat right now, he will be coming back to Cape
Town at the end of March so we will be meeting him soon enough!

Though I could ramble on about this woman for pages and
pages, I won’t keep you much longer. The
above information is just some of the things she has done, excluding her polio,
work for the Clinton administration, her book (Disposable People? The Plight of Refugees),
being a University professor, and an Emmy-winning producer—the things she didn’t
tell us. We looked up more about her
life and found that even her Wikipedia page barely does her justice.

The two things I will always remember from Judy are:

“You can get through any ups and downs in life as long
as you’re doing something you’re passionate about.”

“Human
beings should never be afraid of human beings—no matter their race or age. We are all human beings.”

I truly
believe I met a future saint on Friday.

Comparatively,
hiking Table Mountain was nothing!
Saturday, we had planned a sunset hike up Table Mountain because we
would then be able to take the cable cars down after sunset. We got about half way up and found out the
cable cars were no longer running. At
that point, I decided (being the wimp that I am..) I had heard enough about the danger of hiking
in the dark and wasn’t going to risk it.
A few of us hiked back down while it was still light and watched the
sunset at the bottom—still pretty gorgeous, I must say.

After quite
the full weekend, we just all wanted more adventure. Mzoli’s it was!! Mzoli’s is a huge meat shop in the township
of Gugulethu. Every Sunday they have a
huge braai (BBQ) open to the public.
Thank God X-Man (the second Marquette driver who helps Pearnel) was
willing to drive us and stay with us the entire time. We walked in to what looked like a tiny
butcher shop, smaller than Thuringer for those of you in Arlington. X-Man ordered all the meat for us and we were
brought into the back room. After
walking through a short, claustrophobic hallway, we were brought into another
small room with huge, fired-up grills. We
handed the pan of meat to the men at the grills and were off to find a seat
outside in a great, big tent—the party tent, if you will!! It was really cool to be able to interact
with people of South Africa and international students while still helping
Gugulethu financially.

Tonight
began our first ‘family dinner’ and ‘family meeting.’ Our delicious homemade lasagna, salad, and
garlic bread was made by the wonderful Jamie and Jack. The family meeting idea began in Lizzy’s
family and Steph decided she wanted to implement it in our house. We altered the Owen’s family itinerary a bit
and fit it to the KHouse needs. The
meeting was completely optional because it was just something we wanted to
try. Everyone in the house ended up
attending and squeezing in Rob and Andrew’s bedroom. We opened with a prayer and focused the
majority of our time on ‘pits and peaks’-highs and lows, if you will. We also used a cross as a talking piece, so
only the person with the cross in their hand was able to talk. This made sure that everyone was heard and
everyone got a chance to speak. When
living in a house with 22 people, I have observed that most of the things
shared are happy ones. We tend to always
be laughing and sharing things about South Africa that we have
experienced. This is such an amazing
quality, but there are times when tears are necessary and things need to be let
out. It wasn’t until this meeting that
we were able to share our low points, even if they had to do with home. When everyone had a chance to talk, we ended
with another prayer. This time was very
much needed and will continue to be shared every Sunday night.

Thank you so
much for all the thoughts and prayers from home. This experience wouldn’t be the same without
them. I continually feel God’s presence
in KHouse and in my own life.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

A red pen, some chalk, and A LIBRARY?!

I never really understood what the life of a teacher was
like. I’m only teaching two days a week
and my mind revolves around these students.
I find myself making lesson plans in the shower, going through names in
my head at night, and thinking about crafts I could make when I finish my
peanut butter and have only the jar left.
But, today I didn’t even need those plans! Valentine’s Day is so big in Africa that
everything in the schools revolves around it.
I walked in, all the kids were dressed in red and white, and Mr. Gaji
had a Valentine’s Day poem with questions for the 8th and 9th
grade classes. He also had cards for the
5th graders to make their parents, so my job was very easy!! The entire day consisted of writing definitions
and directions on the board (chalk) and correcting about 200 worksheets (red
pen).

This morning, before I was dropped off, Pearnel told me that
a previous Marquette student had found a library at Hlengisa. He told me to be very inquisitive today
because something was going on there….so that’s exactly what I did!! When I got there, I asked if they had a
library. When I learned it was true, the
most information I could collect was that it was not organized and they had no
one to manage it. This library is a
colorful building in the back left corner of the school grounds. The doors are bright blue with murals of
children and books painted all over the outside. I texted Pearnel that I had found it and he
replied “they don’t use it. It’s so
wrong, kick some butt!” I can’t describe
how upset I would be if I knew my child was attending a school with a great
sized library that was locked and never used.

When I asked if I could go in, they were a little confused
but agreed to let me. They searched for
the key and finally came out with a huge ring and said “maybe it’s on here.” As we
walked up to the doors of this building, I had goose bumps all over my skin and
butterflies in my stomach. I don’t even
really enjoy reading (thus the math major) but I can’t describe the excitement I
had for this library. It just doesn’t
make sense to me that while most schools in this township are struggling to get
books just in the classrooms, this building is full of books that the children
can’t use. We got to the doors and after
trying many different keys, none of them worked. I encouraged him to keep looking for the key
while I began my 6th grade reading club in a classroom.

I brought 4 Harry Potter books to begin a reading club with
40 6th graders today. They
told me some of them had seen the movie and were interested in reading the
book. We got through about 3 pages after a half hour. Although I’m sure the story is going over
some of the students’ heads, some were really enjoying it and were able to
summarize what was happening. It went
better than I had imagined!

In other news, K-House is celebrating Valentine’s Day all
together here in South Africa! We picked
names out of a hat and that is our Valentine for the day. When I woke up, I had a letter and puppy chow
outside my door from the beautiful Lizzy Owens!
Everyone is in such a wonderful mood and we are all showering each other
with love—so many smiles!

I’m still in awe of how well this house gets along. We are all still so excited to hear about
everyone’s days when we get home. Little
KHouse update: Today Jamie and Rob got a
tour of one of the townships they will be working in and were able to go inside
some of the shacks (which I thought was awesome). They are working at “Lotus” which is right in
the townships and our entire house will be visiting this site together. Others are slowly getting projects and being
invited to meetings at their respective sites, so it’s all coming together!!! We are still a bit thrown off by the wild
cows, horses, dogs, goats, and sheep we see on the side of the road…but the
mountains are becoming the norm. I
cannot believe how much we see on a daily basis—the beauty and the destruction
within the same blink. Shacks with the
gorgeous mountains in the background…definitely something to get used to.

All in all, things are really coming together and I have so
many ideas for my service site. Although
I cannot (or would never) demand things be done my way, I can’t wait to see
what I can do for them with my ideas.

Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers. The messages, snapchats, emails, and texts
are getting me through! You’re the
best! LOTS OF LOVE on Valentine’s Day
from South Africa! Miss you all!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

ALL Thanks to You!!

Another few days have come and passed, yet I feel like I just
wrote my last blog. Time flies here… I
guess that means I’m having fun! On
Friday, we were introduced to our Marquette Theology class. Throughout the class, we have some of the
most amazing experiences planned. We
will meet the two men who killed Amy Biehl and started the foundation I am
working for in her honor. We will also
most likely be able to meet her mother who just so happens to be visiting
during our time here. This class will
also bring about our trips to Robin Island, the apartheid museum,
Constitutional Hill, and a Zulu village.

Living in a learning community is an entirely new experience
for me. Every day when people get home,
we sit and talk about our days. It’s
like having 20 parents asking how your day was!! We also really do learn from
each other. I was talking to one of my
housemates the other day and they brought up their service site. They said the children had so much to ask
about America and most of them thought it was all Hollywood. They asked about celebrities we knew and have
seen…. Just this simple conversation gave me a plan for my entire day at Hlengisa
today.

I began my day with two classes of 9th graders—the
students who gave me the hardest time on Thursday. Needless to say, I was shaking in my boots
when good ol’ Pearnel dropped me off. He
wished me luck and kept honking the horn randomly as I walked up to the door of
the school. I have to say, he definitely
always makes me walk in with a smile on my face!

When I walked into the first classroom, I was given an
entire packet of nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives to teach the 9th
graders. I put the packet on the desk
and walked away from it for most of the class.
After having each student stand and tell me their name and something
about themselves, I opened the class to questions about me and America. Hands shot up, one after another. Every class was interested in if I have a
boyfriend…..and then why not, if I have children, and my home life. When I told them I was involved in musicals
and basketball during high school, they wouldn’t let me leave the classroom
until I sang for them. No matter how
much I tried to push it off….so yes, me and one other student broke out in
Beyonce’s Halo and received the loudest applause I’ve ever heard in a classroom. After Pearnel dropping me off and this
applause, I was pretty confident about the day ahead of me and it was only
8:30am!!

As the questions continued, every class, without fail,
brought up Hollywood and celebrities.
They wanted to know if I see celebrities, which one is my favorite, etc… After I explained that Hollywood is a 4 hour
plane ride from my house, they seemed a bit confused. They honestly all thought America is
Hollywood. When I explained that Los Angeles
is about the size of Cape Town, they couldn’t believe it. They also had no idea that we had crime in
the states. I was interrogated about the
kind of crime we have and if there are people in the states that have abusive
parents and relationships. As much as I have
been through culture shock, these children were in shock when they heard some
of my answers.

Most of the time, there were people talking and whispering
during students’ questions and my answers.
It was only when the deeper questions came that the class was absolutely
silent. I was asked if I trusted my friends at home. When I answered yes, they asked, “some people
say ‘love all, trust no one’ so how can you trust your friends?” I was also asked if I have ever had to choose
between my friends and my parents. Though
these questions were simple for me to answer, I was astounded by how quiet my
answers made these students. It was then
that I realized that these are the things we have in common. In America, we are so distant from one
another so it may seem unusual to be asked these questions so early…or hugged
by people you barely know. Here, they
will ask anything and hugs are a simple greeting. They wanted to know things that are apparent
in their own lives and how I would deal with them. After all of this, I really felt like I had
received their utmost respect.

Fifth grade was a struggle because of the language
barrier. They all brought in homemade
instruments for our music chapter today.
After I gave them notes in “personal and social wellbeing” (PSW), it was
time for “creative arts!” Every time I would
try to explain rhythm, counts, pitch, etc.. they would just bang on their
instruments exactly like I did. I think
they had a ball, but not so sure about the whole learning part… But hey! It’s fifth grade and they had fun! It’s only difficult because they don’t understand
a word coming out of my mouth. They answer
“yes, teacher” to everything I say—even when I ask a question that the obvious
answer is no. As I kept thinking about
it, it was like when I was in 8th grade Spanish. I was able to read and write anything you
wanted me to, but if you spoke at me I would have no idea what you were
saying. Now imagine that…..and all your
classes are in that language. I can’t
even imagine.

I think its safe to say I got through today very well due to
all your thoughts and prayers. When I walked
in, I remembered just how many people I had rooting for me today. So basically you just put smiles on about
200 South African children’s faces in one day.
They all thank you!!! And so do I!

P.S. One student couldn't grasp the idea that I wasn't doing
anything for Valentine’s day… He came up to me and asked if he could be my
valentine afterward. SO precious!!

Also... QUICK SHOUT OUT to all my previous teachers who have been helping me the past week. You have all saved me, I can't thank you enough!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

I think I can, I think I can....

Yesterday after a long morning at school, I was picked up
and ready to go home.Surprise!! We weren’t
going home!I was brought to the Amy
Biehl foundation office and dropped off.When I walked in the office, no one knew what we were there for… TIA I
guess.So after much confusion, we were
on our way out to the townships to “pick” our schools that we were to start at
today (Thursday).When we were driving
around the townships, it was as if we were in a parade.All the children would run to the side of the
van and smile and wave at us as if we were on display.I felt like a princess waving out the window
to all the smiling children.When it
came time to “pick” our schools, it consisted of pulling up to each one and
frantically being shoved out of the van and brought in to meet our
teacher.After this stressful hour, I was
placed at Hlengisa Junior Primary/Secondary School for no reason in particular.

Today was my first day at Hlengisa with Mr. Gaji… well, I thought
it was going to be with Mr. Gaji.The
extent of this Gaji man was him introducing me to each class and leaving.My first class was 8th grade
English.I was not quite prepared for
the language barrier, though.In the
past two weeks, we haven’t had much difficulty with English because most of the
older people know it.When you get into
a school, you realize that the children barely know it.If they do, they are very hard to understand….so
English was definitely a rough point today in addition to playing the whole
teacher game.

I will be there Tuesdays and Thursdays and have classes all
day of fifth grade, eighth grade, and ninth grade.The fifth grade class is a “Life Skills”
class.I will be teaching the creative arts
and personal and social wellbeing components of this class.This should be no problem because the chapter
I was introduced to sounds like its mainly musical.Thank God for my house of 21 people because I’m
hoping some empty bottles filled with sand and rice will make for some fun days
with 10 year olds!

The eighth and ninth grade classes are both English
courses.I was completely thrown out of
my element with those.This was the
biggest culture shock I’ve experienced since I’ve been here.The 8th grade class was reading a
story called “Schoolboy found hanged by his school tie.”This was a news story that a teacher had
typed out and put basic questions with.They had received the reading on January 29, already answered the
questions, already corrected the questions, and were just sitting there with
the same story.Mr. Gaji instructed them
to rewrite the questions and answers on a sheet of paper in groups.As we all know, groups in 8th
grade turn into gossip sessions and today I was the gossip of the day.Once again, I felt as though I was in a
display case at the front of the classroom.I was a foreign object that spoke a different language.They didn’t really even seem to care that they
blatantly stared at me instead of doing their work.The only upside to this was that about ten
twelve-year-olds told me they loved me… so if all else fails, I have
twelve-year-old love goin for me!!

The ninth grade class was very similar.The students took advantage of a student
teacher as much as they possibly could and I had just about nothing to go with
as far as a lesson plan, so any lessons I make will be an improvement already!The ninth graders had to write 80 words about
themselves.I began grading them and
came across some things I never imagined I would.I read so many things about townships I never
knew existed in real life.Most of the
children live near the school with either parents or aunts and uncles.They all talked about their family, favorite
subjects, and favorite sports.These
were the things I was expecting.The
openness to their personality and ups and downs of life hit me like a brick
wall.Good thing I’m not an easy crier… Though
I did not receive one person’s respect today in this classroom, it will get
better.Many wrote about never having a
birthday party, so I think that might be a safe place to begin.(THANKS DIANNE!!!)

Thank you for all the prayers, everything is going well! Life
is a bit overwhelming, but its exactly what I wanted!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Reality Check

These past few days have flown by.Friday was the beginning of our Marquette
courses.Though the entire house arrived
about 40 minutes late because the drivers were running on “African time,” we
still were able to get a great introduction to our first course.The course title is Leaders in Grassroots
Organizations: Community Development and Social Analysis.Friday was just focused on life in the
townships and how these people actually survive.

During the apartheid, there were many laws about where
different races were able to live.When
those laws ended, there was no way of just picking up everyone from their
living situations and moving them.South
Africa is still very much living the apartheid just without the laws.One huge contribution to the poverty is that
most of the employment opportunities are in the city of Cape Town. With most empty
jobs in the Northwest corner of South Africa and most shacks and poor people
located in the Southeast corner, there is not an easy way for these people to
get jobs.If some are able to get these
low income jobs, the income is almost completely used on transportation to and
from work.This means these people
cannot even afford bread for their families. This domino effect is seen in every aspect of
life.When you cannot afford food, you
certainly are not able to afford garbage bags.The garbage then piles up in fields and next to the shacks which makes
for horribly dirty and unsanitary living conditions.This, in turn, provides many health issues
for the people.There is no refrigeration,
no toilets or sanitary sewage outlets….most of our essential living needs are
not even a thought in these townships.

The government has put in place a system where they try to
replace some shacks with small houses.In order to be chosen to move to these houses, you have to have your
name put on a list and those who make less than 800 Rand (about $89) per month
get first option.This number may sound
low, but most of these people have absolutely no income so there is still a
huge waiting list.Even when some people
are able to move into the homes, they will stay in their shack, rent the home
out, and make enough money to buy bread for the family.

A 4-5 person home is 23 square meters of bare, cement walls
with sandy floors.Most of the ground
here is very sandy so even when these homes are built, they are never on a very
sturdy foundation.This makes for cracks
in the walls and ceiling in a short amount of time because parts of the house
sink into the sand.There is also mold
everywhere in many of the homes.Even if
you are lucky enough to move into one of these government homes, it means you
must leave your entire community and move to a new place where you most likely don’t
know anyone.The communities of shacks
are extremely close knit people because their living arrangements are just so
close they become family.

This was the introduction to our Leadership course which
will coincide with our service sites.All
of the children I will be teaching currently live in these townships.In order to attend the Amy Biel after school
programs, they must be a full time student at a school and they must agree to come
to the program every school day.If they
are able to fulfill these requirements, they are never turned away at Amy
Biel.This is difficult for children
sometimes though because they are needed to take care of younger siblings.There are many circumstances in which if both
parents have passed away, there might be a 10 year old taking care of a 6 year
old.

This is the reality in which these people are living...something
I cannot fathom even in my worst nightmares. The innocent faces of children as they run
around at school are just happy to be “away from the shacks” (as I read on a
poster a child made at Imbasa elementary school).We are here to be leaders in these places and
to begin community organizations for them.Only about 6% of the people from the townships are involved in any type
of community organization and about 89% think they have nothing to offer.As we try to understand this foreign life, we
are called to implement something they need.We are called to communicate and
understand what the needs of these townships are in order to help long term-
hoping our projects will be carried on and fulfilled long after our time here
in South Africa.

Our service sites begin this week.I am excited to see what this semester has in
store for me.I have virtually nothing
in common with these children except for true compassion and love.I’m just hoping that will be enough to get me
through some of the stories I will hear.

In other news, K-House had our first braii today! A braii is a traditional African BBQ/party. It was scheduled to begin at 3pm and at about 1:30 we were told we had to go grocery shopping and make all the food. Everyone seems so casual about things like this whereas we were all frantically running around the store and trying to cook as fast as possible. I never really felt the phrase "a watched pot NEVER boils" before today trying to make pasta salad with 15 mins left before people arrived. Still, none of the Africans seemed worried or rushed! (TIA!) We had about 60 people over and cooked more food than an army would be able to eat. Our refrigerator is jam packed with leftovers. It was very successful and we all met some great, new people. Most of the guests were from UWC and were interested in an international program so were very willing to learn about America. (MANY more cultural differences were discussed). This was basically an all day event so now most of the house is exhausted.